Interprofessional mentorship highlighted at rehabilitation sciences research day

King is an associate professor of physiotherapy at the University of Ottawa. Her fields of study include patient education, critical thinking, health literacy and interprofessional education.  

The research day featured digital poster presentations from nine master of science in rehabilitation sciences students and seven students in the applied health sciences PhD program.  

Introductory greetings were given by the college’s associate dean academic, Dr. Sandra Webber, associate dean research, Dr. Jacquie Ripat, and acting chair of the M.Sc. program, Dr. Diana Sanchez-Ramirez.

Six students – three each from the M.Sc. and PhD programs – were given awards at the end of the day. 

Lea Soliman (first place – tie) is a respiratory therapist with a bachelor’s degree from UM who worked in community hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. She presented a qualitative study on the experiences of respiratory therapists doing terminal extubation – or the discontinuation of mechanical ventilation – during the pandemic.  

“Seeing what my colleagues were going through and the changes that had to take place in health care – with restrictions and lockdown policies and visitation limitations – I knew that there had to be some psychological impact on frontline workers, and I wanted to see, from their own words, what that was,” she said.

“How respiratory therapists perceive their work and how they relate to their job still isn’t the same, and it probably never will be. They kind of regard themselves in a different light now.” 

Sofia Salsi (first place) is an occupational therapist who received a master’s degree from McGill University and specializes in mental health. Her presentation explored the experiences of health care professionals in financial capacity assessments.  

“In the psychiatric world, I was involved in a lot of assessments where the main purpose was to determine if someone could legally manage their affairs and make their own legal decisions,” Salsi said. 

“When I learned that occupational therapists and other allied health professionals have such different roles in this type of medical, legal assessment across Canada, I became curious about why and how … because it is such a serious assessment with legal human rights consequences.” 

Shelley Sargent (third place), is a manager of physiotherapy care at Health Sciences Center who was trained in physical therapy at UM. She presented research on the impact of education on patient preference for physiotherapy care in non-specific low back pain.  

“Our preliminary research findings suggest that many physiotherapists across the country believe that individuals with low back pain prefer interventions that are not recommended by current clinical practice guidelines. This was an opportunity to circle back to patients with back pain and ask what it is they want from their physiotherapy provider,” she said.

“We learned that most people with low back pain prefer evidence-based care versus non-evidence-based care … and that education is an effective tool in helping align preferences and guidelines.”